Sun Chuanfang
Sun Chuanfang is a Chinese general. He is the leader of the League of Eight Provinces (Southern Zhili Clique), based in Nanjing. He was born in Shandong on April 7th, 1885, and holds control over Southern and Eastern China. History Early Life Sun Chuanfang was born in Licheng, Shandong on April 7th, 1885. In 1902, Sun Chuanfang joined a Beiyang Army training camp due to his connections with his brother-in-law, Wang Yingkai. In 1904, he was recommended to the Tianjin Military Academy, and in 1904 attended the Tokyo Shimbu Gakkou. He graduated from the Imperial Japanese Army Academy and returned to China in 1908. Zhili Clique After his return to China, he was tested for his military capabilities and invited to join Feng Guozhang's Zhili Clique. Based in Hubei, he became the military governor of Fujian province, and assisted in the Zhili-Anhui War. Sun was an important military commander during the Second Zhili-Fengtian war. He helped lead the Zhili flank attack from Fujian with General Qi Xieyuan, which ended in the capture of Shanghai and the defeat of the Anhui Clique. With Feng Yuxiang's coup in Beijing and the defeat of the Zhili Clique in the second Zhili-Fengtian war, Sun and his army were stuck in Eastern China. Along with Qi Xieyuan and Wu Peifu, he helped retake the North in the Anti-Fengtian Expedition. League of Eight Provinces In the years after the Second Zhili-Fengtian War, Sun Chuanfang consolidated his rule in Nanjing, expanding his territory to Jiangsu, Fujian, Anhui, Jiangxi and Zhejiang, and establishing the League of Five Provinces. The Kuomintang attacked the Zhili Clique in 1926. In January the following year, the core of the National Revolutionary Army met Sun Chuanfang's forces augmented by German reinforcements from Qingdao. The Battle of Jinhua was a decisive victory for Sun, and in combination with German troops from Indochina taking the KMT's capital of Guangzhou, this resulted in its wholesale collapse. Sun subsequently incorporated Guangdong, Guangxi and Hunan into his League. Later that year, the League was attacked by the Fengtian Clique, which lay siege to Nanjing, the second most important city in Sun's territory. Thanks to German assistance and a daring move by Wu Peifu, who seized Bejing and cut off the land connection between the Fengtian forces at Nanjing and Manchuria, the Third Zhili-Fengtian War was a Zhili victory. In return for German aid, the Xuantong Emperor was restored to the throne of China, becoming Sun's sovereign. However, peace did not last and Fengtian, now heavily aided by Japan and cooperating with the Shanxi Clique, attacked again in March 1928. Sun rallied to the defense of the Qing Empire, sending his better troops north and leaving second-rate ones to maintain order in the Eight Provinces. Banditry became a major problem, and some captured passenger train with foreign occupants. When elements of the Japanese military launched an unauthorized attempt to rescue the passengers, they began fighting troops loyal to Sun and Germany near Shanghai. American mediation was used to prevent the war escalating. The Shanghai Conference got all warlords besides Zhang Zuolin of Fengtian to recognize the Qing government. It also created the Legation Cities, five of which are in Sun's territory. No armed Chinese soldier may enter within thirty miles of these cities, and foreign countries are free to trade within them. Sun was willing to negotiate with the German Empire and their request for more concessions, which led to the creation of the Aufsichtsrat der Ostasiatische Generalverwaltung, a semi-legal group of German-exclusive concessions on the coast of China. See also *Wu Peifu *League of Eight Provinces *Aufsichtsrat der Ostasiatische Generalverwaltung Category:People Category:Asians Category:Chinese-related topics Category:Zhili Clique Members